Astronautical and Aeronautical Events of 1962 - NASA's History Office

254 ASTRONAUTICAL AND AERONAUTICAL EVENTS OF 1962
replaced William D. Brown, who resumed full-time duties as
deputy chief, Engine Management Office, MSFC.
November 68: Project stabilization agreement-set of standard pay
and benefit practices for both union and non-union workers-
was adopted at Cape Canaveral, it was reported. Agreement
was product of more than a year’s negotiation by contractors
and unions working at Cape Canaveral, undertaken at suggestion
of President’s Missile Sites Labor Commission.
November$$: Dr. EdwardlWelsh, Executive Secretary of the National
Aeronautics and Space Council, told Atomic Industrial Forum :
“We cannot afford to find ourselves with a space gap due to a
lack of advanced planning and of attention to advanced develop-
ments. Yet, we will assuredly have such a gap if we do not push
enthusiastically the potential of nuclear energy and power at an
increasing rats in the field of space. . . . It would indeed be
foolish not to develop and use the propulsion system which would
carry the greatest weights the greatest distances most economi-
cally. The potential of nuclear propulsion in such an objective
cannot be overestimated. . . .
9,
NASA test pilot John McKay predicted X-15 would soon attain
speeds seven times speed of sound at altitudes up to 500,000 ft.
during a new series of flights.
AFSSD broke ground at Edwards AFB for construction of world’s
largest and most highly instrumented solid-rocket engine test
facility. Stand was primarily to test five-segment 120-in. solid
rockets for Titan 111, but it also had capacity to test segmented
solid rocketszup toland fincludng 156-in.
November 30: Franco-American scientific sounding rocket launchings
coordinated when two U.S. launchings were made from Wallops
Island while France launched one from Algeria and failed to
launch one from France. First U.S. rocket (Nike-Cajun) fired
at 5:57 AM carried a Langmuir probe to determine electron
density and the temperature of the “E” layer of the ionosphere
(50-100 miles altitude) ; the second (Nike-Apache) launched at
6:15 AM, released a sodium vapor cloud to 106-mi. altitude which
spread over 100 miles of the eastern seaboard. “Sporadic E”
regions of the ionosphere have electron density that reflects much
higher radio frequencjes, and may result from wind shears. On
November 7, GSFC scientists undertook the first sounding rocket
firings to examine correlation between “E” region and wind shears.
Sixth and final powered test of Kiwi B-4A ground-test reactor for
Project Rover was successful at Jackass Flats, Nev. Newsmen
were permitted to watch this test from a mile away, the first
test to which outside observers had been allowed. Kiwi B-4A,
looking more like a flyable engine than some of its predecessors,
was mounted on a remote-controlled railroad flatcar, consumed
tons of liquid hydrogen in the half-power, five-min. test. Part
of the joint AEC-NASA program for development of a nuclear-
powered rocket, the series of ground reactors tested different
reactor designs, fuels, metals, and accessories.